The present invention relates to water sprinklers, and particularly to the ball-type water sprinkler.
The conventional ball-type water sprinkler comprises a housing, a rotor mounted for rotation within the housing and including a chamber having a water inlet oriented to direct the water to flow circumferentially of the chamber, a ball freely movable within the chamber according to the direction of flow of the water therein, an impact element fixed to the rotor to be impacted by the ball and to rotate the rotor according to the direction of rotation of the ball therein, an outlet from the chamber, and a nozzle communicating with the outlet and rotatable with the rotor. Such a ball-type water sprinkler rotates continuously in one direction, and therefore distributes the water in a full-circle around the sprinkler.
There are many applications wherein it is desired to distribute the water only in a preselected sector rather than in a full-circle around the sprinkler. Examples of the prior known sector sprinklers of this type are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,526,363, 3,930,618, 4,625,914, 4,781,328, 4,784,325 and 4,787,558. However, the known sprinklers of this type are generally of relatively complicated structure which is expensive to produce and maintain.